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Carpenter’s Career Fair Checks All the Boxes

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By: Michael King

Date: April 17, 2019

Construction is booming throughout Detroit, so now is the time to seriously think about training for a career in skilled trades. Many young people are looking for options that don’t include college and years of debt and will put them on a path of career growth, opportunity, good wages, and job satisfaction. The Carpenter’s Apprenticeship Career Fair checked all the boxes.

Thirty-five contractors met with an estimated 1,100 walk-ins and 650 local high-school juniors and seniors. Everyone was interested in one thing: Closing the skills gap and adding to the employable Southeast Michigan workforce. Job seekers came from all walks of life to find out more about training programs in Skilled Trades, the Other 4-Year Degree:
  • Twenty-three-year-old Tom T. traveled 45 minutes after hearing about the fair on Facebook. He had always been interested in the trades but did not know where to begin. Without family or close friends in the trades, the career fair became his first step. “I still don’t know where I’ll end up,” he said, “but I’m sure this event will help me to narrow it down.”
  • Brandon, 18, and Nathan, 17, came as part of a class field trip. Brandon came from a family of roofing and demolitions contractors and he convinced Nathan that a career in the trades is full of opportunity. Both of them were unsure of where they would ultimately end up, but they believed that if they worked hard, they could become a foreman, a master tradesman, or a project manager. Brandon commented, “That’s when the big bucks start rolling in.” •
  • Ryan Martin is the general superintendent of Aristeo Construction. Putting the skilled trades work day into perspective, he told attendees that the days can be long or short, you have to push through the hard times with the same fervor as you do with the good times, and you can rise through the ranks relatively fast. “You can also look back proudly on what you have accomplished,” he said.
  • Also attending the career fair was James, a 39-year-old who has recently fallen on hard times. When he heard about the event on Fox 2, he knew immediately that he would be at the event. “Today, good jobs are far and few in between, but not in the trades,” he said. He added that he had been employed in the field but had not gone through a union certified training program. This made it challenging for him to find stable work.

Visit the Become An Apprentice page for more information about how you might find your career!

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